Sewri Fort to get flamingo-viewing gallery as part of its makeover

Mumbai: Sewri Fort, on the eastern coast of Mumbai and one of the city’s most ancient monuments, will soon undergo a makeover. On the anvil is also a flamingo-viewing gallery for an unfettered view of the migratory birds that flock to the nearby Sewri mudflats every winter. At present, bird-watchers use the Sewri jetty to view the flamingos or else walk through muddy terrain to take photographs.

Tejas Garge, who heads the state archaeology cell, said that some of the external walls of the fort were broken and needed immediate repair. “One of the roofs is also damaged and we plan to repair that,” he said. “The flamingo gallery will be atop the fort. We will not plan much there except measures to ensure that people don’t fall off.”

Rajiv Nivatkar, currently officiating as the collector of Mumbai city district, recently visited the spot with his officers. He said that a full plan had been devised for a makeover, including external illumination of the fort. Nivatkar has also told his officers to make a 15-minute film to be shown at the fort.

Gulab Supekar, the district planning officer, said that the district planning and development committee had also approved toilets and other amenities like a parking lot for tourists. “A garden with some landscaping will also come up in the vicinity,” he said, adding that the work would be carried out by the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA) and supervised by the director of state archaeology.

The total cost of the project will be around ₹7 crore, and several other departments such as the mangrove cell of the forest department, the Mumbai Port Authority and the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation will also coordinate on it. According to Garge, the work is scheduled to begin by July or August.

The Sewri fort is one of the most unsafe places in Mumbai for women. When asked about this, Garge said that there were just 80 watchmen for the 400 forts in the state. “There is a shortage of manpower and funds,” he said. “We can plan a ticketed entry to the fort and finance the salaries of securitymen from this.”

Sewri Fort has a rich history going back centuries. It was constructed in 1680 by the British East India Company as a watch tower. Faced with relentless attacks by the Siddis in 1672, several fortifications were constructed in Mumbai, and in 1680 the Sewri fort was completed. It stood on the island of Parel, on a hill overlooking the eastern seaboard and Indian mainland. It had a garrison of 50 sepoys and was managed by a subedar or local chief. It was also armed with eight to ten cannons.

In 1689, the Siddi general Yadi Sakat, with an army of 20,000 men, invaded Mumbai. The fleet first captured Sewri Fort and then Mazgaon Fort before ransacking Mahim. The fort was later also involved in a battle that repelled a Portuguese attack in 1772. After the decline of the regional powers, it was used to house prisoners, and decades later converted into a Mumbai Port Authority godown.

The fort was built primarily for defence, so embellishments are absent. It is bordered by high stone walls, including an inner ring for added protection. It is landlocked on three sides, and sits atop a sheer cliff of about 60 m (197 ft). The entrance is a stone doorway that leads into a courtyard. The inner entrances are placed perpendicular to the main entrances, an architectural feature that was put in place to prevent a frontal assault from the main entrance.